The MYOB Principle
“The majority of motorists think they’re above-average drivers.”
Dear Ms. Self-Appointed-Traffic-Cop:
Pitt Meadows (adjacent to Maple Ridge) is a great place to cycle – lots of wide, paved shoulders separated from traffic by a solid white line. IronWoman and I were riding home from work, side-by-side, having a pleasant conversation when you passed by us. Something about us apparently bothered you, so you slowed down to match our speed, then rolled down your passenger-side window.
“SINGLE FILE!” you shrieked at us across the child sitting in your passenger seat. “You have to be riding SINGLE FILE!”
Your child, surprised at your sudden outburst, started crying. We both just looked at you for a few seconds, annoyed that you were interrupting our conversation and forcing us to take our attention off the road. You seemed to be having trouble keeping your car in your lane; not surprising considering your attention was on us and not your driving. Not getting any response from us, you flung up your arms in exasperation, mashed your gas pedal to the floor and sped away. Right through a school zone. Man, I wish there had been a speed trap there…
* * *
I guess this is what put Ms. Self-Appointed-Traffic-Cop into a tizzy – section 183(2)(d) of BC’s Motor Vehicle Act:
“A person operating a cycle… must not ride abreast of another person operating a cycle on the roadway.”
But, interestingly enough, the MVA’s definition of roadway is:“…the portion of the highway that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, but does not include the shoulder, …”
Huh. We were doing absolutely nothing wrong. That driver got all bent out of shape, upset her child, drove without due care and attention then sped through a school zone, all for a transgression that existed only in her mind. This isn’t just my interpretation of the MVA – a situation very similar to this recently made it to the BC Supreme Court: the driver had slowed down to confront two cyclists who were riding side-by-side on the shoulder, resulting in one of the cyclists crashing and suffering serious injuries. The driver’s lawyer argued that the driver was not at fault because the cyclists were riding side-by-side. The judge rejected this argument, ruling that “the marked bike lane is not part of the roadway ordinarily used by vehicular traffic”, and that the driver’s conduct and loss of temper caused the cyclist “to crash his bike and suffer serious injuries.” The good news is that the cyclist has mostly recovered from his injuries and was awarded over $100,000 in damages. The bad news is that since BC has no-fault insurance, everyone in BC who pays for vehicle insurance gets to pay for that driver’s bad behaviour in the form of higher premiums.
Here’s a news flash for you members of the Driving Nation who yell at cyclists when they do things you don’t like: cyclists don’t have the slightest interest in your opinion. Really. It doesn’t matter if you are one hundred percent right and the cyclist you’re yelling at is one hundred percent wrong. Cyclists have to watch the road all the times and can’t afford to be distracted by drivers yelling at them.
Why the outburst from this driver? Where did she get the idea that she had the right or duty to lecture us? She’s not a police officer. It’s not her job to tell others how they should behave on the road. A driver’s only responsibility is to pay attention and drive their vehicle in a safe and legal manner. Regardless of how important they think their opinion is, drivers have no legal mandate to lecture cyclists or anyone else for that matter. So why do it?
Maybe they think that because they have a driver’s license and cyclists are, well, “just cyclists,” they have some moral right to lecture them. Maybe it’s a “might makes right” situation – drivers are bigger when in their vehicles, so they must be right. Maybe they get some small amount of satisfaction from thinking that they’ve done their part by policing the roads and righting terrible wrongs. Maybe they believe that because they have to pay for a driver’s license, insurance, and gas taxes but cyclists don’t (see the chapter "The Bike Licensing Fallacy" for more on this), they have a right to dictate what cyclists should or shouldn’t do. Whatever their motivation is, apparently they think their opinion is so important that they’re willing to drive without due care and attention while trying to carry on a rolling conversation with someone who doesn’t give a shit what they think.
Guess what? I have a driver’s license. So does IronWoman -– in fact, every cyclist I know has one. I’m sure there are some cyclists out there who don’t, but it’s probably a small number. Given that most cyclists are drivers, but most drivers aren’t cyclists, the odds are pretty good that the cyclist a driver is yelling at probably has a driver’s license. And, all things being equal, there’s a good chance that the cyclist is a better driver – in that they understands their rights and responsibilities better – than the driver doing the yelling.
If these aren’t good enough reasons for the Driving Nation not to waste its breath lecturing cyclists about alleged transgressions, here’s one more: the mechanics of cycling is a lot different from that of driving. When driving, you speed up and slow down using your foot, steer with your hands and can activate your turn signals without taking your hands off the wheel. You’re sitting in a comfortable seat that is hard to fall out of. Your perspective from behind the wheel is quite different from that of a cyclist. You may not see things that a cyclist does. Cyclists have to use their arms and hands for balance, steering, signaling and braking – all at the same time.
Now I’m not saying that cyclists are special and don’t have to follow the laws - – of course they do. What I’m saying is, cycling is significantly different from driving, so occasionally you’re going to see a cyclist breaking a minor law – a law probably intended for drivers – because they’re more concerned with steering or braking at that time[2]. As a cyclist, I’m occasionally guilty of that; if I happen to be making a turn on wet pavement or gravel, I will almost always choose to keep both hands on the handlebars so I can steer and operate both my front and rear brakes. Given the trade-off between the remote chance that something might go wrong because I didn’t signal and losing control because I didn’t have both hands on the handlebars, I choose the former.
The next time you see a cyclist do something you think they shouldn’t have done, please don’t get all bent out of shape about it. First off, you might be wrong – you’re seeing the situation from a driver’s perspective, not the cyclist’s. Second, that cyclist isn’t likely able to affect you or your life. Cyclists are no threat to you in your cage, but you are a threat to that cyclist, and just about everyone else around you.
My main point here isn’t who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s this: instead of drivers minding someone else’s business (especially someone who isn’t affecting them in any tangible way), they should mind their own business and keep their killing machines under control.
Excerpt from "Letters to a Driving Nation" by Bruce Butler copyright (c) 2016. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without written permission from the author.
Pitt Meadows (adjacent to Maple Ridge) is a great place to cycle – lots of wide, paved shoulders separated from traffic by a solid white line. IronWoman and I were riding home from work, side-by-side, having a pleasant conversation when you passed by us. Something about us apparently bothered you, so you slowed down to match our speed, then rolled down your passenger-side window.
“SINGLE FILE!” you shrieked at us across the child sitting in your passenger seat. “You have to be riding SINGLE FILE!”
Your child, surprised at your sudden outburst, started crying. We both just looked at you for a few seconds, annoyed that you were interrupting our conversation and forcing us to take our attention off the road. You seemed to be having trouble keeping your car in your lane; not surprising considering your attention was on us and not your driving. Not getting any response from us, you flung up your arms in exasperation, mashed your gas pedal to the floor and sped away. Right through a school zone. Man, I wish there had been a speed trap there…
* * *
I guess this is what put Ms. Self-Appointed-Traffic-Cop into a tizzy – section 183(2)(d) of BC’s Motor Vehicle Act:
“A person operating a cycle… must not ride abreast of another person operating a cycle on the roadway.”
But, interestingly enough, the MVA’s definition of roadway is:“…the portion of the highway that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, but does not include the shoulder, …”
Huh. We were doing absolutely nothing wrong. That driver got all bent out of shape, upset her child, drove without due care and attention then sped through a school zone, all for a transgression that existed only in her mind. This isn’t just my interpretation of the MVA – a situation very similar to this recently made it to the BC Supreme Court: the driver had slowed down to confront two cyclists who were riding side-by-side on the shoulder, resulting in one of the cyclists crashing and suffering serious injuries. The driver’s lawyer argued that the driver was not at fault because the cyclists were riding side-by-side. The judge rejected this argument, ruling that “the marked bike lane is not part of the roadway ordinarily used by vehicular traffic”, and that the driver’s conduct and loss of temper caused the cyclist “to crash his bike and suffer serious injuries.” The good news is that the cyclist has mostly recovered from his injuries and was awarded over $100,000 in damages. The bad news is that since BC has no-fault insurance, everyone in BC who pays for vehicle insurance gets to pay for that driver’s bad behaviour in the form of higher premiums.
Here’s a news flash for you members of the Driving Nation who yell at cyclists when they do things you don’t like: cyclists don’t have the slightest interest in your opinion. Really. It doesn’t matter if you are one hundred percent right and the cyclist you’re yelling at is one hundred percent wrong. Cyclists have to watch the road all the times and can’t afford to be distracted by drivers yelling at them.
Why the outburst from this driver? Where did she get the idea that she had the right or duty to lecture us? She’s not a police officer. It’s not her job to tell others how they should behave on the road. A driver’s only responsibility is to pay attention and drive their vehicle in a safe and legal manner. Regardless of how important they think their opinion is, drivers have no legal mandate to lecture cyclists or anyone else for that matter. So why do it?
Maybe they think that because they have a driver’s license and cyclists are, well, “just cyclists,” they have some moral right to lecture them. Maybe it’s a “might makes right” situation – drivers are bigger when in their vehicles, so they must be right. Maybe they get some small amount of satisfaction from thinking that they’ve done their part by policing the roads and righting terrible wrongs. Maybe they believe that because they have to pay for a driver’s license, insurance, and gas taxes but cyclists don’t (see the chapter "The Bike Licensing Fallacy" for more on this), they have a right to dictate what cyclists should or shouldn’t do. Whatever their motivation is, apparently they think their opinion is so important that they’re willing to drive without due care and attention while trying to carry on a rolling conversation with someone who doesn’t give a shit what they think.
Guess what? I have a driver’s license. So does IronWoman -– in fact, every cyclist I know has one. I’m sure there are some cyclists out there who don’t, but it’s probably a small number. Given that most cyclists are drivers, but most drivers aren’t cyclists, the odds are pretty good that the cyclist a driver is yelling at probably has a driver’s license. And, all things being equal, there’s a good chance that the cyclist is a better driver – in that they understands their rights and responsibilities better – than the driver doing the yelling.
If these aren’t good enough reasons for the Driving Nation not to waste its breath lecturing cyclists about alleged transgressions, here’s one more: the mechanics of cycling is a lot different from that of driving. When driving, you speed up and slow down using your foot, steer with your hands and can activate your turn signals without taking your hands off the wheel. You’re sitting in a comfortable seat that is hard to fall out of. Your perspective from behind the wheel is quite different from that of a cyclist. You may not see things that a cyclist does. Cyclists have to use their arms and hands for balance, steering, signaling and braking – all at the same time.
Now I’m not saying that cyclists are special and don’t have to follow the laws - – of course they do. What I’m saying is, cycling is significantly different from driving, so occasionally you’re going to see a cyclist breaking a minor law – a law probably intended for drivers – because they’re more concerned with steering or braking at that time[2]. As a cyclist, I’m occasionally guilty of that; if I happen to be making a turn on wet pavement or gravel, I will almost always choose to keep both hands on the handlebars so I can steer and operate both my front and rear brakes. Given the trade-off between the remote chance that something might go wrong because I didn’t signal and losing control because I didn’t have both hands on the handlebars, I choose the former.
The next time you see a cyclist do something you think they shouldn’t have done, please don’t get all bent out of shape about it. First off, you might be wrong – you’re seeing the situation from a driver’s perspective, not the cyclist’s. Second, that cyclist isn’t likely able to affect you or your life. Cyclists are no threat to you in your cage, but you are a threat to that cyclist, and just about everyone else around you.
My main point here isn’t who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s this: instead of drivers minding someone else’s business (especially someone who isn’t affecting them in any tangible way), they should mind their own business and keep their killing machines under control.
Excerpt from "Letters to a Driving Nation" by Bruce Butler copyright (c) 2016. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without written permission from the author.